Smoke Can Fall Up
by ElisabethBeier
Summary: Hermione falls in love with a Japanese exchange student. FemSlash, DO NOT READ IF YOU ARE OFFENDED BY FEM PAIRINGS! Tradgedy begets tradgedy begets love. A startling turn of events in our lead heroine's life leads to an ancient love not seen in 1000 years
1. Chapter 1

Hermione stared into the fireplace in her mother's living room. Her father was still at work at the office and her mother was currently supervising the cooks, trying to tell them exactly how to prepare Hermione's dinner.

The fire was alive. It danced with the soft white and blue at the bottom turning into a very bright orange yellow at the top. It made sense to her that the hottest part of the flame was at the bottom because it had had less time to oxygenate. When flames get more oxygen they get cooler.

"I love her.", she thought. The newest girl at Hogwarts had captured Hermione's attention like no one ever had before. The world seemed to isolate down to only the two of them whenever she watched her from across the great hall. She could see the aura around her flicker like the flames that now danced in the living room, from blue to yellow-red and back again. It never stopped. She was desperately in love.

The only problem was that Miki Kawasaki was Japanese and only there for a few more months before she returned home to Japan over the Easter holidays. She probably didn't know who Hermione was let alone know that she loved her. Miki had been sorted into Slytherin upon her arrival at the British school. It made sense. She was from an old pureblooded Japanese line. They had a squib in the family who had started a muggle motorcycle company. But the wizarding portion of the family didn't talk to him much. They were quite content with their happiness in Japan but they had sent Miki to Hogwarts on a transfer so that she could understand more about their British counterparts. She was set to take over the investment business of her fathers when she returned home. She had been quietly dating Draco Malfoy since October and his family was hoping for an alliance with the Kawasaki's as they were the Japanese counterparts of the Malfoys. So all in all Miki most likely didn't know Hermione existed and would go on being happily oblivious until the day she left.

So this was Hermione's conundrum. Ron had asked her to marry him a few weeks prior and this was what was expected of her. Arthur Weasley had taken over the Minister of Magic job after the fall of Voldemort in the summer of Harry's sixth year. So seventh year was progressing quietly and it was already the Christmas holidays. Hence was she was in her mother's living room watching the flames dance. Dinner time was almost upon them and the firelight was starting to dim. The rock on her left hand wasn't helping matters.

Her parents were what were termed by the muggle world as nuveau riche. They had a huge manor purchased with the funds from her parents very successful careers as dentists. She was soon to be presented in the dining room to satiate her evening hunger and she was crying. This was not good. No use worrying over something that she couldn't change it wasn't like she didn't love Ron. She did very much. She just didn't know what to make of her feelings for Miki. She had never felt like this towards any other human being ever.

The world dimmed as she felt an odd smell near her face. The flames were starting to creep out of the fire place and towards where she sat on the carpet. A small red flame crept toward her seemingly uncertain of the path which it was taking. Hermione felt its warmth on her skin but it didn't burn her. She felt comforted by the little friend. She never noticed that the manor around her was burning to the ground.

HGMK

Miki ate dinner with Draco in his private lounge at Malfoy Manor. She felt very sophisticated here in the British world. She wasn't sure of how her father back home would feel if he were to be plopped down in the middle of the wizarding culture here. Her family didn't believe in blood purity and the Malfoys were at the top of that podium here. Such a thing just didn't exist in Japan. There were no muggle borns there. Everyone had pureblood so there was no way for such ethics to have developed. The fact that there were muggle borns in England could only be because of all the old magics here.

They tended to manifest themselves in muggles when they could find no other outlet. She intended to do a study of them before she returned home. They were very interesting creatures these muggle borns. If her Arithmetic calculations were correct then they would develop ties to the old magics as they got older. She thought they were very unique.

The purebloods here didn't tend to show as much of a wildness with their magic as she was used to. Because the old magics were not tied to Japan the purebloods there had to commit certain rites to keep their magic wild and strong. Here she felt not the need. The magic infused her by just being in this country. If she never again had to drink virgin rabbit blood she would be quite happy, hence her sometimes discomfiture with the civility surrounding Draco Malfoy and his house elves.

At home she waited on herself, drew her own baths and milked their cow herself. They kept as close to the old ways as possible to tie themselves firmly to the original magics. Her family might seem a little uncivilized but they had to be or the magic would flow from their blood and leave her as non magical as her squib cousin who sold motorbikes, even less than a muggle.

In Japan, muggle and wizarding partnerships couldn't produce offspring as the mothers always died. The child was too strong for a muggle mother to carry or the magic in the witches' body killed the muggle baby before turning on her. So it was obvious to see why this was not done back at home and why she had been so confused on her first day at school here.

She had been told not to speak to certain children at the school and even in her own house because they did not have the purity of blood that she carried. Pansy had thoroughly confused her. She had tried to explain her confusion but no one here understood. Draco had been a darling and she had tried to answer his questions about her own ignorance but eventually he grew tired of her vagueness and just left the subject alone.

She was engaged to marry him with the permission of her father and would be returning to Japan with him for the wedding, come April. She was very excited to see how he reacted to her lifestyle. But, before she left though she intended to make a thorough investigation of the old magics and how they manifested in muggles.

HGRW

Ronald Weasely opened The Daily Prophet on Monday morning and screamed. Her dropped his orange juice and puked up his bacon. Then he promptly blacked out. The article that had so upset him glared up harmlessly from the front page.

WAR HERO'S HOME BURNS TO THE GROUND KILLING ALL WITHIN

The home of Hermione Granger burned to the ground late Sunday evening. 12 bodies have been identified so far. Within the house were 15 servants Hermione and her muggle mother. Her muggle father was at his dentistry practice working late. He is the lone survivor. It does not appear to have been deliberate in nature and the flames had leveled the house within a few hours. Magical authorities were not contacted until this morning as the muggle firemen did not stop work until then. As of yet it is still unknown if more bodies will be discovered. There appear to have been no survivors. The building is completely destroyed and magical recovery will take months.

Below the small article was a huge picture of Hermione smiling peacefully out from the front page.

HGHG

She soared over Muggle London as if in a dream; carried with the smoke wisps towards the old forests. Something within told her this was right and she would finally be home.


	2. Chapter 2

The smoke that was Hermione drifted about on a breeze above some old woods that the muggles called Pollards' Wood. The breeze drifted the particles about and scattered them through the trees.

Ahead of her in the middle of the forest was a small clearing with a pile of stones in the middle. A small baby rested there. It had black hair and it was barely breathing. A muggle woman had abandoned it there that morning. The smoke felt the life force leave the little one. It flickered, guttered like a candle, and then went out like it had never existed in the first place.

Hermione's life force was drawn into the little one as its' last breath went in. It stayed incorporating itself into the cells as the little one breathed out again. Then the child ceased to be only a baby and became Hermione. She breathed with the baby's lungs and moved the fingers. She became the baby and the baby became her until they were one and the same and seemed as if they had never been separate.

For the first time in days the little one cried and squalled, very loudly.

HGMK

An elven woman was walking through the woods by her home when she heard a very loud, very human, cry. She walked quickly toward the sound as it was offending her ears.

Her husband and only child had been slaughtered in the final battle against the dark lord. She was very receptive at the moment to any cry of distress from any species of animal.

She already had about 5 kittens at home that she had rescued from a muggle that had tried to drown them in a creek.

As she approached the human child she realized that it was throwing magic around it in a wild storm. She could feel it crackle in the air. It was like lightning. It seemed to float around her trying to decide if she were friend or foe. It went inside her with her breathing and seemed to decide that she was worthy. It caressed and then went back inside the human child. When she reached down to pick up the little one she felt something like a bite at one of her fingers.

Before her eyes the baby started to change. The ears sharpened at the tips and the nose became noticeably more pointed. On the whole the baby seemed to become more angular.

That wasn't all. The crying stopped and the elf realized that the wood had decided the child was to become hers. She would care for it as if it had been born of her because for all intents and purposes it had been born for her. It would resemble her and feed of her.

The child of the wood, would be named Nantila Roeysa as the elf was called Queen Roeysa.

HGMK

Ronald Weasley woke up in a very bright room. He saw a halo of red hair standing over him. There were 7 heads above him that he could count; Dad, Mom, George, Bill, Fleur, Ginny, and Charlie.

"Where am I?" asked Ron. He stretched his arms above his head and tried to remember what quidditch team he had been playing against when he was injured this time.

"Ron, I don't know how to tell you this little bro, but Hermione's gone. We found you in a puddle of puke in the kitchen, didn't rightly know what to think to be honest so we brought you here to St. Mungo's." said Bill while pulling at his dragon claw earing.

Ron started to cry and his mother leaned over him making shushing noises and coddling him close to her expansive chest. Hermione was never going to come back.

HGMK

Nantila grew slowly for an elf. She grew at a rate that was almost half of the other children. She looked like them and played like them, but almost everyone knew that Nantila wasn't all that she seemed to be. For one thing, strange happenings seemed a common occurrence with the princess. Objects would float around her when she laughed and sometimes when she cried plates and glasses would shatter. Nantila definitely was not a normal child.


	3. Chapter 3

Hogwarts rose above the lake like a dragon rising up to protect it's nest. Its wings and turrets rise over the cliffs like some jeweled majesty in a dream.

The first thing one could think of when they see the castle is to gasp and so softly 'oh' under their breath for there are truly no words to describe such a sight. Even the most wondrous ancient elven cities couldn't compare with this thousands year old construction.

A little girl sat in a boat. Her cloak was wrapped tightly around her trying to fight off the chill from the mist on the water. The tips of her ears were cold and he lips were stained blue from trying to ward off the autumn chill.

The cloak was made of heavy brocade night blue fabric. There was small enchantments of plants running through it.

Her curls were midnight black and they were pulled away from her face with a small silver circlet, the only physical presence of her status.

Her purple eyes were wide with wonder. Her skin wasn't what you would expect of an elf; she had an Asian tone to her skin, not the alabaster quality one usually sees in their species. In the future it would cause people to question whether she was full blood eleven or not. But, then they had never met her mother.

FLASHBACK

Queen Roeysa had taken her daughter to Diagon Alley herself right after they had received the letter from Hogwarts. There had also been letters from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, but no elf would ever go to such a dark school and Nantila did not speak French as well as she could speak English.

Noone recognized the queen. Mostly because she had hid under a cloak so that people couldn't see their ears. Her small daughter was constantly wanting to press herself more firmly into her mother's side.

The alley wasn't dangerous, it was just so completely different from anything she had experienced thus far in her short life. In the woods she was just another child. At home she had the trees and the leaves to protect her and her people. Here everything was so big and there were bricks and metal. Nothing was alive. She could feel the magick, but there wasn't anything tying it to the place. There were no threads to count.

In the bookstore Nantila felt safe for the first time and looked at her mother to ask if she could leave her side. The silent stare worked and her mum let go of the hand.

She felt at home here! There were the smells of ink and books and old leather. She felt happy for a time until she could go back to the forest. So, she sat in a chair and grabbed the first book she saw on a shelf. It happened to be _Hogwarts A History. _

She read until her mother came back to get her. They didn't need to go to the robing store. All the clothes were made for her by her own people. She only purchased the school emblems to sew onto the robes. The house emblems could be stitched on after the sorting.

END FLASHBACK

As they neared the shore in the small boats Nantila wondered which house she would belong to. She wasn't cunning, in fact she was very unambitious. She was incredibly shy and didn't like to talk much. She figured maybe Hufflepuff. It seemed a nice house.

Her feet felt better after she stood on the ground next to the lake. She took in the beauty of the magick of the castle. It had it's own song! She felt happier now even than she had in the bookstore. The magick was telling her welcome, _welcome home beautiful princess. Let me teach you so you can help us again. We are lost._

She slipped the flat shoes onto her feet. It wouldn't do to embarrass herself in front of the humans. She couldn't just walk around barefoot for the rest of the night. She finally let her hair fall away from her ears as she held her head up, proud to be an emissary for her people. She was the first one from her woods to come to Hogwarts and she would make them proud of her.

The other students around her then saw for the first time what she was and the people closest to her on the staircase took a step back. Whispers flew around.

"Oh my god, it's an elf!"

"Did you see her ears! How can they allow that thing in here?"

"Whoa, she's so pretty! Where did she come from? Did you see her on the train?"

Nantila always knew that there would be people who hated her for what she was. Her mother had thoroughly prepared her for this. There couldn't be any wavering in her step or her courage. She had to be brave for her people or they would all fail.

A short man with a tiny hat appeared in front of them then. "Students, students listen to me. In a moment we will go into the Great Hall for your sorting you must be quiet and wait until your name is called. My name is Professor Flitwick and I am your Deputy Headmaster. The Headmistress is waiting inside. Now please, follow me" He disappeared through the set of oak doors and the small crowd followed him.

A brilliant night sky of stars shown above the entering first years. When the light hit the little elf her skin glowed. She looked like a star herself for just a minute.

Nantila felt the starlight magicks hit her skin and form the ties for the magick threads. She cut them as quickly as possible not wanting to draw anymore attention to herself, but the damage had already been done.

The headmistress watched the entering group and then saw the one small girl. She immediately stood in her seat and nodded her head to the princess. The little girl caught her eye and nodded back. She had been accepted as an emissary now.

The murmur in the hall increased by about 50 fold when the older students realized what had just happened, but it was cut short when Flitwick placed the sorting hat on a stool and let it have the room.

_In a thousand years, has never seen._

_The one to unite forces gone._

_Yet here we are four house none._

_We have no leader and no divide._

_We cannot conquer nor can we hide._

_We are only four houses._

_Ravenclaw the smartest ones._

_Gryffindor the courageous ones._

_Slytherin the ambitious ones._

_Hufflepuff the truest ones._

_I will not let you down._

_Come here then and let me sit atop your crown._

Then the hat was silent. Its old leather stopped shaking and it seemed to be still.

Flitwick called many students names and the cheers from the crowd gre as one by one the people around the little princess diminished until she was the only one left.

"Princess Roeysa, Nantila!"

She looked up, she hadn't wanted her status announced to the whole school. She felt angry. Her eyes glowed. She walked up the the stool and perched under the hat. It was then placed onto her head. She felt the threads working their way into her mind. Know what it was, she allowed it.

_Hmm who are you? An elf in Hogwarts? Now this is unheard of, but there is also something very strange about you. You aren't just an elf are you little one._

'What are you talking about, you stupid piece of leather?'

_Now, now dear names aren't going to help you right now. I know just where to put you though._

"SLYTHERIN!"

The hall was deadly silent. She wanted to run. None of the other students had had no applause. She looked at the ground and tears started to fall. Little did she know, but black rain clouds had covered the inside of the Great Hall. Images of raindrops fell and disappeared straight before hitting the tables. She was so sad. Everyone hated her.

She made it to the end of her new table and found she was all alone. The tears fell faster until she felt a hand on her back. She looked up a face, a beautiful golden face framed by ink-black hair was looking down at her.

"Hi! Welcome to Slytherin! I am Elise Malfoy." She took the hand offered to her and shook it.

"Hello, I'm Nantila." Eventually the din of the hall returned and Elise sat next the her.


End file.
